Google Adsense is a service of Google that places ads on your web site and pays you for it. It tries to choose the ads to be relevant to the content of your site. This can have interesting consequences, two examples of which I have noticed recently.

My online friend jasonk has recently expressed his disfavor regarding Barack Obama and the Dixie Chicks. Now the banner ad on the web site is showing ads for both.

Tonight I looked at the ScreenIt! review page for the film Jarhead. ScreenIt! reviews list all of the content of a film that someone might find objectionable (violence, profanity, sex, etc.) so that you can make an informed opinion about whether you want to see the film. The google ads linked to nude screensavers and the like, things that ScreenIt! presumably would not want to promote..

Obviously Google Adsense hasn't learned how to distinguish between whether a site is promoting or panning a certain subject. Or maybe its a better business decision for them to ignore that distinction.

Tonight I watched Jarhead (2005,R) (ScreenIt! Review). From the Wikipedia entry:

Jarhead is a 2005 film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford. The title is based on a semi-derogatory slang, jarhead, used for Marines, and sometimes by Marines themselves. The film was directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, most famous for his 1999 film American Beauty.

I thought it had potential, but I give it 3 out of 5.

Tonight I finished watching Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007). It's currently playing on HBO and examines torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. So disgusting. So disgusting.

Via Andrew Sullivan, video of an interview of Obama from 2002 where he talks about Iraq.

Not only do I think Bush and Co. should be held accountable for being so wrong about Iraq, but I think (whether you like him as a presidential candidate) you've gotta give big ups to Obama for being so right about it.

Today I watched Prime (2005,PG-13) (Screen It! Review). From the Wikipedia entry:

The film is a character comedy set in New York City. Rafi (Uma Thurman) is a recently divorced, 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan. David (Bryan Greenberg), a talented 23-year-old Jewish painter from the Upper West Side, falls in love with her. Rafi shares all her secrets with her therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep). Unbeknownst to Rafi, Lisa happens to be David's mother.

I'm a sucker from non-cheesy romantic films, especially if there is a healthy dose of angst and longings unfulfilled. This one didn't really fit the bill; it was just OK. I give it 3 out ot 5.